RealGM Wiretap

Pelicans Sought Deep Roster With Players Difficult To Guard

Feb 8, 2014 3:15 PM

With the additions of Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans and Austin Rivers, there's a popular sentiment around the NBA that Dell Demps has assembled a glorified AAU team for the New Orleans Pelicans.

That collection of four backcourt players are viewed as needing the ball in their hands to be effective, whereas the NBA has moved toward spacing in the halfcourt.

Demps points to the lineup data of the Pelicans' desired closing unit of Holiday, Gordon, Evans, Ryan Anderson and Anthony Davis as being one of the best on offense in the NBA. That lineup has scored 123.5 points per 100 possessions with an assist rate of over 20 percent before they were hit by injuries.

“One of the goals was to make sure we had a team that’s deep and hard to guard,” Demps says. “We wanted to be hard to match up against, and we were before the injuries happened. At times, we were unguardable.”